



\ . 



( 



\ 



A THANKSGIVING SERMON \ 



PREACHED DECEMBER 7th, 1865. 



AT A UNION SERVICE IN LOCKLAND, OHIO, 



MADE UP OF THE 



METHODIST, BAPTIST, AND TRESBYTERIAN CDURCHES. 



By Rev. SILAS HAWLEY. 



JUSTICE IS GREATNESS! 



"I WOULD HAVE THIS TO HE VOUU FIRST IIUSINESS— TO LAY FOUNDATIONS. ( 

ObBtiuctiouB at the fountain are ilaiigerous : that bod}' cannot live. Tlu'ie is no \ 

remedy but to do that by Law whicli cannot po.ssibly bo done without it." > 

Sir Henry Vane. ^ 



^d£) 



.los. B. Boyd. Priuter, 25 West Fourth Street. Cincinnati. 



NATIONAL EECONSTRUCTION. 



GLORY m THE MM OF 1 NATION. 

A 

THANKSGIVING SERMON, 

PREACHED DECEMBER 7, 1865, 



AT A UNION SERVICE IN LOCKLAND, OHIO, MADE DP OF 
THE METHODIST, BAPTIST, AND PRESBY- 
TERIAN CHURCHES. 

By Eev. SILAS HAWLEY. 



JUSTICE IS GREATNESS 1 



" I would have this to be your first business — to lay foundations. 
Obstructions at the fountain are dangerous : that body can not live. 
There is no remedy but to do that by law which can not possibly be 
done without it." — Sir Henry Vane. 



CINCINNATI: 

WESTERN TRACT AND BOOK SOCIETY. 

1866. 



E 



C 

u 



.H-3^ 



LocKLAND, Ohio, Dec. 12th, 1SG5. 
Rev. Silas Hawley, Sir : 

Having listened with pleasure and profit to your Thanksgiving 
Sermon delivered in Lockland to the united congregations of the 
Methodist, Baptist, and Presbyterian Churches, and believing that 
its circulation among the people would be beneficial to the cause 
of Human Progress, and materially aid the friends thereof in 
properly directing the popular mind, we respectfully request a 
copy of the same for publication. Yours truly, 
Wm. B. Fkench, W. H. Blair, 

Geo. S. Stearns, Wm. Cornell, Jr., 

C. B. Evans, Edward Allen, 

E. Cowing, G. H. Burrows, 

J. B. Powell, C. R. BACHfiLOR, 

C. Harkness. Samuel Dunn, 

T. S. Cowden, Thomas Pox, 

J. H. Tangerman, L. jM. Miller. 

C. S. Woodruff, 



Cincinnati, January 8th, 1866. 
Rev's. Powell, Cowden, and Messrs, Tangerman, Fox, Stearns, 
French, Harkness, Cornell, and others : 

Gentlemen : — The Sermon, with slight additions and changes, 
is at your disposal. The President, in his Proclamation, kindly 
gave me the text; and I have done the best I could with it. I 
will send his Excellency, as the best return 1 have it in my power 
to make, a copy of the Discourse. Yours, for Righteousness, 

SILAS HAWLEY. 



THE 



GLORY AxND THE SPIAME OF A NATION. 



" Kighteonsness exalteth a natioa : but sin is a reproach to any people." 

Prov. 14 : 34. 

1 use this text, at tliis time, because it serves ray purpose, 
and because, as an additional reason, it is used by the Presi- 
dent, and as a special ground for the act, in his Proclamation 
appointing this service. It is the affirmation of the Great 
Ruler of nations, and also, by indorsement, of the Ruler of 
this people. Its use, then, on this occasion, has a two-fold 
pertinence and appropriateness. 

Righteousness exalteth a nation. Righteousness is Right- 
ness ; and Rightness refers to relations. Out of relations 
spring Rights; hence Rights are the standard, and measure, 
of Rightness. To respect the Rights^outspringing from rela- 
tions, to do this practically and habitually, is Righteousness; 
it is so in a man, and so in a nation. That is a Righteous 
man, who, in this sense, respects the claims of his relations ; 
so, too, that is a Righteous nation, which, in the same sense, 
respects the claims of its relations. Just so far as a man 
does not respect such Claims or Rights, he is not Righteous; 
just so far, too, as a nation does not, it is not Righteous. We 
are to measure a nation, in this respect, as we measure a 
man ; the same standard, the same test, is to be employed. 
The standard of Righteousness is one. There is not a high 
standard for the person, and a low standard for the nation ; 



6 THE GLORY AND THE 

there is the same standard for both. A nation is but an 
individual many times multiplied ; hence the law of the in- 
dividual, is the law of the nation. Numbers do not affect 
it. And so as to that which exalts a nation. Whatever 
exalts an individual, exalts a nation; whatever is glory in a 
person, is glory in a people. The same law, as in the other 
case, holds. And what is this ? What is it that exalts a 
people ? What is the true glory of a nation ? It is not any 
thing material, not any thing intellectual ; not, at least, 
primarily and essentially. It is something above these. It 
is not an army, not a navy, not territorial greatness, not 
vastness of population, not wealth, not refinement, not im- 
provement, not prowess, not science and learning; that which 
elevates a nation, which is its true glory, is not any of these. 
No, no ; you are to look for this in the field of the moral. 
All true glory is found in moral qualities. It is so in a man; 
so in a nation; so in God himself. It is Righteousness. 
Righteousness exalteth a man. Righteousness exalteth a 
nation. Righteousness exalteth God ! And this alone does 
it. It is the only exalting element anywhere. It is the 
only quality that can dignify and ennoble. Righteousness 
is dignity itself. It is nobility itself. It is glory itself. 
Other things, all other things, exalt, as they stand connected 
with, and are subservient to, Righteousness. This is so of 
wealth, numbers, breadth of territory, armies, navies, literary 
and scientific attainments, the arts, military and naval achieve- 
ments ; these lift up a nation, give it dignity and glory, if 
allied with, and tributary to, Righteousness ; if, in other 
words, they are the possessions and acts of a Righteous people. 
If not, the opposite is true. There was a lifting of the nation, 
a glory, in the late war. Not, however, in the marvelous 
energy it awakened, not in the immense resources of the 
nation it revealed, not in the mighty army it extemporized, 



SHAME OF A NATION. 7 

not in the formidable navy it built up, not in the splendid 
generalship it illustrated, not in the high fighting qualities 
of the soldiers it displayed, not in the iron strength of the 
government it demonstrated, nor yet in the grand victories, 
on the land and on the water, it achieved; the glory was not 
in these. The glory was in the Righteousness of the cause. 
It was, on our part, a Righteous war, and hence one of exalta- 
tion. We went to war for the Right; and, by the favor of 
Heaven, and the strength of the cause, we won. Hence we 
have been immeasurably raised in the eyes of the nations. 
Righteousness, in (his things has surely exalted the nation. 
Right has covered our arms with glory. It is Righteous- 
ness, then, and this onli/, that exalts a nation. The reverse, 
of course, is true. Sin, or, which is the same thing, Uii- 
righteousness, sinks a people; is the shame of a nation. But 
sin is a reproach to any people. Sin ; not a scanty territory, 
not paucity of numbers, not a meager army, not an indifferent 
navy, not a lack of wealth, refinement, improvement, prowess, 
science and learning ; not these : these, of themselves, are 
not a reproach to a people. It may have, in these respects, 
all belonging to any people, and even more, and yet be a 
nation of shame. Righteousness exalts a nation; Uiiughi- 
eousness, whatever else it has, or may have, sinks and dis- 
graces a people. The text, therefore, teaches the GLORY 
and the SHAME of a nation. Let us heed it. 

Now, a nation, to be Righteous, must be so in three res- 
pects : in its Framework, in its Administration, and in 
its Subjects. In other words, it must have a Righteous 
Constitution, a Righteous Rule, and a Righteous People, 
These, and nothing less than these, make up a Righteous 
nation. Let us give these a separate consideration. 

We say, then, beginning at the commencement, a nation 
must have a Righteous Framework. It must be put up 



8 THE GLORY AND THE 

Righteously. Its stones, its timbers, all its components, 
must be Righteous. There must be organic Righteousness ; 
Righteousness in the very stntctuve itself. It must be 
Righteous from its corner-stone to its cap-stone. It must 
have a thoroughly Righteous Constitution. It will not do to 
have Unrighteousness here; Unrighteousness at the founda- 
tion, at the root, at the very seat of the national life, and to 
look for Righteousness elsewhere ; this will not do. Such 
a thing is preposterous. There mnst be Righteousness here, 
or nowhere ; this is certain. But what is such a national 
Framework? What, in other w^ords, is a Righteous Consti- 
tution ? It is one, as already indicated, that is in strict 
keeping with the Rights that exist; Rights outgrowing from 
relations. A nation, built up on the basis of Rights, Rights 
higher and lower, is, in its Framework, its Constitution, 
Righteous; and no other is. And these Rights — what are 
they? Whence shall we look for an authoritative definition 
and statement of them ? Turn to the Decalogue, the Great 
Law given to the Jewish nation, and, through it, to all 
nations, and you have them ; turn to the Form of Govern- 
ment God gave the same people, the only Form, and you 
have them ; turn, too, to our national Creed, the immortal 
Declaration of the Fathers of the Republic, and you have 
them. There is, in all these, a striking harmony. — We first 
turn to the Decalogue. And we find it — what ? Merely, a 
great Bill of Rights. It has, as we should expect, two parts : 
the first part setting forth God's Rights ; the second part, 
Man's Rights. God's Rights are summed up in this : LovE 
THE Lord thy God with all thy heart ; that is, make 
Him Supreme. Man's Rights are summed up in this : Love 
THY neighbor AS THYSELF ; that is, make him an Equal. 
Here is the sum of Rights ! God is First — He stands alone 
in the First Table of the Law ^ He is to hold the First place. 



SHAME OF A NATION. 9 

But, wlien we come to tlie second Table, we have Man's place 
and Man's Rights. Love thy neighbor as thyself; why AS 
thyself? Because he is an Equal ; he has the same Nature, 
the same Bights, is put on trial for the same Destiny, and 
holds, by consequence, the same Place in the scale of being. 
This, of course, sweeps away every idea of Inequality from 
among men — every notion of caste ; it makes every man an 
Equal. It is the very origin of the idea of Equality ; the 
very origin of all true Democracy. Love thy neighbor as 
thyself — thy neighbor, white, black, red, olive, any color ; 
treat him as an Equal. How fatal such a principle to all 
aristocratic notions, pretensions, and arrangements ! And 
this Law holds as between nations. Nations are but Neigh- 
bors ; hence the Law of the Neighbor is the true Interna- 
tional Law. The Golden Rule should be the Golden Law 
of nations. Let it be, and you immensely simplify all inter- 
national matters, and avoid the most troublesome complica- 
tions. Let the Neighborly Law be carried out by the nations, 
as nations, and international diflBculties cease ; let it be car- 
ried out by individuals, as individuals, and difficulty, of every 
character, is at an end! I said truly, then, that we have in 
this Law the sum of all Rights ; aqd, I might have added, 
the sum of all Duties. Make God, God in Christ, Supreme. 
Here is Theocracy ! Here is Piety ! Here is Christianity 
in its higher branch ! Make man Equal. Here is Democ- 
racy ! Here is Humanity ! Here is Christianity in its 
lower branch ! It is all here ! We see, therefor e, in the 
lio-ht of this great individual and national Law, what are the 
Bidets that exist and that command resp'ect. — We nest turn 
to'the Form of Government God gave the same people. 
And what loas this ? What Government did God give the 
Jews; give them for themselves, and for the nations? Here 
is a most vital point. What Government did he give them ? 



10 THE GLORY AND THE 

I was told two years ago — and by a thinker, too, a sort of an 
American Carlyle — that our Government was breaking up, 
because it was not the true Government, it was not a Mon- 
archy ! What docs such a man mean ? Where can he go 
for his wisdom ? Now we say, in opposition to all such 
twaddle, that the only Government God ever gave the Jews, 
or any other people, was a Democracy ; or, to speak with 
exactness, a Theo-Democracy. We say, too, that when the 
Jews clamored for a king, he gave them one in his wrath; 
solemnly warning them, at the time, of the consequences. 
We say, further, that He emphatically declared that the de- 
sire for a king was the rejection of Himself. Monarchy the 
true Government ! No, no ; it is a Heathen institution ! It 
came from Pagans, and not from Heaven ! God never gave 
such a Government. We go further, and say. He could not. 
True Government must be in keeping with the Great Law 
we have considered; it must reflect, and honor, God's suprem- 
acy, and Man's Equality. Hence it must, in its higher ele- 
ment, be Theocratic, and, in its lower, Democratic. God, in 
Government, as in the Law, must hold the First place, and 
Man the Second. And they did, as we have seen, in the 
Government, the only Government, He ever gave to Men. 
The same Rights, then, are seen to exist in the only God- 
given Government. — We now turn to our National Creed, the 
Great Declaration of the Fathers. And here we shall see 
the same Rights. I think it does not lessen the value of 
this immortal Declaration, to say that its substance is found 
in a work of Sir Henry Vane, one of the master spirits, if 
not the master spirit, of the time of Cromwell. And Vane 
picked it out of the Moral Law, and the Primitive Govern- 
ment, Heaven-given, of the Jews. We may be certain that 
all that is distinctive and imperishable in that great instru- 
ment, came from this high source. When, then, we hear 



SHAME OP A NATION. 11 

the Fathers solemnly Declare, That we hold these truths to 
be self-evident: That all Men are created Equal ; that they 
are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Kisrhts ; 
that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Hap- 
piness ; that to secure these ends, Governments are instituted 
among men, deriving their Just Powers from the consent of 
the Governed, they most distinctly assert the Supremacy of 
God, and the Equality of Man. God, as Creator, as the 
Giver of Rights, stands First ; Man, Man as Equal, next. 
And when they say, that, to secure these ends, that is, the 
Equal Rights of men, Governments are instituted among 
them, there is no intention, of course, to say that Govern- 
ments are not to secure the Rights of God. They surely 
did not intend, after a solemn recognition of Him as Creator, 
as the Giver of Rights, to exclude Him, or his Claims, from 
Human Governments ; such an idea cannot, for a moment, 
be entertained. God, in this great Creed, is put in his just 
place, and Man in his. God is Supreme, and Man is Equal. 
And hence, after the Supremacy of God, the Equality of 
Man, Man irrespective of country, or color, or condition, or 
belief, in other words, Simple Manhood, is the sovereign 
element, and distinguishing glory, of the Political Faith of 
this land ! Now the blindest can not mistake what is a 
Righteous national Constitution, or Framework. It is most 
plainly one in which God has His place, and Man his place. 
One recognizing the Divine Supremacy, and Man's Equality. 
One embodying the Theocratic and Democratic elements. 
One reflecting the great verities of the Moral Law, and of 
the Creed of the Fathers. One that is true to God, and true 
to Man. This, and nothing less, is a Righteous Constitution, 
or Framework, of a peopl'^. 

And here the question naturally rises, is our oxon so ? Is 
it so? As to the Divine Supremacy, where is the rccogni- 



12 THE GLORY AND THE 

tion ? And as to Human Equality, where do you find it ? 
We know it is not there : Slavery cast it out ! Slavery spoiled 
the fair work. Slavery led the first builders to reject the 
stone of Equality ; hence they built without it. But Slavery 
has fallen ; and the whole work, to a great extent, has gone 
down with it. It was wrong, wrong from the bottom stone; 
hence the fearful bowing and fall ! And now where are we ? 
What is the national situation ? What are we doing? What 
is the work of To-Day ? It is that of Reconstruction I 
We are to tear up, and build anew. We are to rear again 
the National Fabric. This is the high Work, Duty, Respon- 
sibility, now pressing upon the American people ! And let 
us, though intensely mortifying, thank God that we may do 
this. God, in marvelous clemency, grants us, what he seldom 
grants a people, the opportunity to correct our organic errors 
— to rectify the mistakes of the Constitution — to re-lay the na- 
tional foundations — to re-cast^ as far as it is needful, the whole 
form of Society. It is a high favor. It is a rare favor. It 
is now our grand and rare privilege, to Reconstruct the 
nation, including the very basis ; to begin anew, and from 
the first stone ; to build over again, and from the very bot- 
tom, after the Pattern given by God to the Fathers, and 
embodied in .the Declaration of Independence ! This, in 
Heaven's special mercy, is our high opportunity. God, 
winking at the great error of the first builders, and yet 
toppling down their work, virtually says to us : Try it over 
again ; I give you a second opportunity to rear, and after the 
Model furnished, a Righteous national Edifice. And surely 
we should noio see to it that the work is rightly and thor- 
oughly done. We should lay iijust foundation. We should 
not again be under the necessity — if God should give us the 
opportunity, as He may, and probably will not — to tear up 
things from the very basis. It is a most diflacult thing to 



SHAME OF A NATION. 13 

correct a fault in the foundation. We should, then, at this 
time, lay the right basis — put in the right stones, and in 
their right place ; we should do this, though it should take 
half a century. Put, then, in the National Constitution, a 
distinct recognition and assertion of the Existence and Rights 
of God ; make it radiant with such recognition and assertion. 
Make God, God in Christ, to hold His true place in the In- 
strument. Make it emphatically Christian. We, by pro- 
fession, are a Christian people ; put out the fact, therefore, 
distinctly, prominently, radiantly, in the Constitution of the 
Country. And put out the same in every State Constitution. 
3fake it the First Great Lata of the land ! And in keeping 
with this, let the President and Governors, in their Proclam- 
ations, recognize God in Christ. Let them be Christian, and 
not Deistical, Proclamations. But this is not enough. Put 
Man, too, in his true place in these Instruments. Put there 
just as distinct and emphatic a recognition and assertion of 
the Rights of Man. Let God's Supremacy stand first ; and 
then Man's Equality. Hence blot from the Federal Consti- 
tution every line, and word, and dot, put there by Slavery 
— expunge every trace and finger-mark of the Iniquity ; and 
put in their place, broadly, legibly, unmistakably, the Doc- 
trine of Human Equality. Let it glow and blaze with this 
great Truth. And let the same be done with the Constitu- 
tion of each and every State in the entire Union. Let Man, 
every man, in its Constitution, stand in the same relation to 
the Courts; to the Ballot-Box; to every political Right 
and Immunity. Malce Eq_uality the Second Great Laiv of the 
land ! 

And, in the circumstances, I would begin this work at the 
South. I can not at all agree with those who tell us, that 
we can not compel the South to do what we will not do. It 
was the South that led the Founders to construct the Union 



14 THE GLORY AND THE 

falsely in tlie first place ; let them, then, be the first to re- 
pair the mischief. First in the Wrong ; let them be the 
first in the Right. This is simply just. Hence I would, 
for this reason, begin there. I would, too, begin there, be- 
cause there is the most rottenness there. I would, further, 
begin there, because Grod began to tear down there. I would, 
once more, begin there, because the southern builders, with 
hot zeal, are building wrongly and falsely. I would, as a 
final reason, begin there, because we now have the right 

AND POWER TO DO WHAT WE PLEASE THERE. And hoW 

wonderful the manner we acquired this right and power ! 
We have them ; and God gave them to us ! Before the war, 
things were tied up — tied up by the Constitution ; hence we 
could not rightfully reach Slavery in the States. But God 
taught us how to reach it, and slave-holders, too ! We have 
reached both, and both are at our feet ! These States, though 
not out of the Union, have forfeited their Rights\; they are 
wholly at the mercy of the Federal Government. So the 
President treats them ; and his policy, strange to say, has 
received the indorsement of all parties. True, some tell us 
they go for the Constitutional Rights of the South ; what do 
they mean? Go for the Constitutional Rights of the South? 
Why, they have only two ; tlie right to he tried, and to he 
liung ! And do these persons go for these ? I confess / go 
for them, touching some of the Leaders ; but not touching: 
the southern masses. I am not so vindictive as that ! As 
for several of the Leaders, I am most decidedly for giving 
them their full Constitutional Rights ! But I would stop 
here. The South, therefore, as revolted States, have no 
Rights — none, at least, to be coveted ; very well. It is for 
us, then, to dictate the terms upon which they may regain 
their rights and standing. And this gives us the ichole 
ground. We may do as we please with them \ I mean, 



SHAME OF A NATION. 15 

within the limits of right and reason. And surely we should 
please, in the Grand Opportunity afforded by God himself, 
to have them reconstruct those States Rightly, Christianly, 
Democratically ; to reconstruct them after the Creed of the 
Fathers ; to reconstruct them by making them, as the Con- 
stitution requires, Kcpuhlican States ; to reconstruct them in 
such a way as to give the loyal black the same Rights as the 
disloyal white ; to reconstruct them in such a manner as to 
shield the millions of helpless Freedmen from the vindictive 
and crushing power of their late masters, now smarting from 
defeat and humiliation ; to so reconstruct them that the man 
of color shall have the protection of the ballot as well as the 
poor man without color ; in a word, to have the reconstruc- 
tion such as to embrace the Divine Supremacy, and Human 
Equality. This certainly ought to be our pleasure. And if 
it is not, we are the guiltiest of all people ! If we have the 
right and the power, and use them not, what justification can 
we offer to Heaven, and the civilized world ? I tremble 
when I think what may be the result of a failure here. It 
is a momentous matter ! A fearful responsibility rests on 
the nation at this hour ! Heaven is watching our action ! 
The eye's of the struggling masses of all lands are fixed upon 
us ! Let us not be deceived. Let us not misjudge the crisis. 
Let us not be carried away by the miserable cry of concilia- 
tion. Why, this very cry led us into error before ; led us 
to build up a false national fabric. We must conciliate, we 
were told — we could form no Union without it ; that concil- 
iation proved our ruin ! And now we hear the same cryjl 
Conciliate ? Yes, conciliate God, and justice, and the victims 
of southern oppression, and their countless sympathizers 
throughout the world ! Yes, conciliate these ; and by doing 
that which is simply Eight and Equal ! And this must be 
done. We tell the President, we tell the members of Con- 



16 THE GLORY AND THE 

gress, we tell the southern builders, that this stone of Equal- 
ity must go into the structure. It 77iust go in. You may 
reject it, as did the first builders ; you may reconstruct 
without it ; you may put up your masonry on another basis ; 
but it will not stand. It is sure to come down. God will 
tumble it down. Your Reconstruction will end in Rede- 
struction ! It can not stand. God's threatening against a 
similar Jewish work, in Ezekiel, is sure to be executed 
against it. It is false in itself; and, in addition, is dauhed 
ivith untempered mortar ! Of course it must fall. And yet 
we hope better things of the President, and of Congress, 
though we thus speak. 

But just here we are met with difficulties. It is difficult, 
we are told, to fix the status of this people. It is difficult, 
if we ignore our principles ; otherwise it is not. Why, the 
status of these men, in the light of our principles, is that of 
any other men unconvicted of crime ! Keep this fact in 
view, and where is the difficulty ? But it is a grave problem, 
we are further told, to know what to do with them. Is it a 
grave problem to know what to do with the Irish and Ger- 
mans ? Make it such, if we dare! Do with them? That, 
I modestly suggest, is none of our business. They are, 
thank God, and the late President, and our brave soldiers, 
their oion men ; hence it is a question of tlieirs. But they 
can not live at the south, it is urged, in a state of Equality; 
so it was urged that they could not live there in a state of 
Freedom ! Give these men the ballot at this time, we again 
hear, and you ensure their destruction. Fill the south, then, 
with colored troops ! Do this, and we will risk the results. 
But voting, we are told, is not a natural right. What folly! 
Governments, the/ Fathers say, are instituted to secure natural 
Ptights ; hence, they are essential to this end. As an essen- 
tial, therefore, to natural Bights, Government is a natural 



SHAME OF A NATION. 17 

Right. A natural Right is no Right without Government ; 
hence Government is a natural Right. But vodnff is cjovern- 
ing in this country ! Voting then, clearly and undeniably, 
is a natural Right ! But, it is further urged, they should be 
sent out of the country. That, I would gently hint, does 
not happen to be our business. They are their own masters ; 
hence they are not likely to leave until they send themselves! 
Besides, the nation is solemnly pledged, by the great Proc- 
lamation of Freedom, to use its entire power to maintain 
and maintain here, the full Freedom of this people. We may 
not depart an inch from this high engagement. There is> 
we hear from another quarter, a natural antagonism between 
the races; consequently, one or the other must perish. We 
should think so when we see the bleached faces of these 
people all through the South! Why, look at it. Out of 
four millions of persons reputed African, few are found of 
pure blood ! This, if natural antagonism, must be a very 
queer type ! There is, others insist, a constitutional repug- 
nance to color. I say not. These self-same persons wear 
many articles of black. A gentleman said this, in a stage- 
coach, recently ; I remarked that he must be mistaken. I 
pointed to what he had on, and all selected from his own 
taste; and I then drew from him the confession, seeing he 
had intensely yellow whiskers and mustache, that he had 
paid barbers largely to turn them into black ! And yet this 
gentleman insisted, that he had a constitutional repugnance 
to black! Men are mistaken here. Their repugnance — I 
will not say it is constitutional — is to a low condition ; and 
as black has been the badge of that condition, they mistake 
a repugnance to that for a repugnance to color. This, at 
least, is so largely. But it is said, this is the white man's 
country. It is ; and the black man's, too. It is the rich 
man's country, and the poor man's country, the strong man's 
2 



18 THE GLORY AND THE 

country, and the weak man's country ; in fact, it is every 
Man's country ! Rather, it is Man's country. To be more 
exact, it is, first, God's country, and secondly, Man's country. 
The white man's country! An aristocracy of color! It is 
positively shameful ; the most hateful and irrational of all 
aristocracies. White man's country ! A country first occu- 
pied by a people not white ; a country whose independence 
was achieved partly by black men ; a country whose creed 
ignores all distinctions of hue, birth, belief, and condition ; 
a country whose second victory over England was, in part, 
won by colored troops; a country just saved, largely, by 
soldiers in ebony ; and yet a white man's country ! Perish 
the unjust, ungrateful, un-American, shameful sentiment! 
Let us hear no more of it. This matter of suff"rage, we hear 
still, has always been left to the States themselves. Very 
well ; and so has the matter of Slavery itself I And yet we 
have stepped in and taken it out of the hands of the States. 
Why not do so in the matter of suffrage ? But if the Fed- 
eral authority gives the ballot to the colored man of the 
South, it must to the colored man of the North, Most ab- 
surd ! Because the Federal authority does what it will in 
States that ha-v a forfeited their Rights, may it do what it will 
in States that have not forfeited their Rights ? Strange that 
men in high places can blunder in so plain a case ! But all 
this, we hear still, would lead to social equality. Not at all. 
Giving the ballot to the Irish, does not lead to social equal- 
ity. Social equality is a matter of taste; political equality, 
a matter of right. It will, however, it is further pressed, 
lead to amalgamation. Not necessarily so. Slavery is the 
great amalgamationist ; Freedom is not much gi^en to it. 
But if we must have amalgamation, let us have it in a state 
of Freedom rather than in a state of Slavery. But these 
men, it is answered, are not fit for the ballot. Once, they 



SHAME OP A NATION. 19 

were not fit for Freedom ! But they are as fit, and wjore 
wortliy, than many a southern white. Further, they are as 
fit, and as worthy, as the great mass of Irish voters. But 
Time, we hear from very high sources, is an Element in Re- 
form. Just so said the Fathers when they put up the na- 
tional structure with Slavery in it ! Time, they said, would 
make all right ! And we know — know to our sorrow and 
shame — what Time did in the premises. Time make all 
right ! Do a mighty Wrong, a terrible Injustice To-Day, 
and leave it to Time to correct ! Make Unrighteousness 
organic — make it vital and fundamental, and then tell us that 
Time will work a complete cure ! What an idea ! What a 
plea, coming from such sources ! Still you must allow, we 
are once more told, that we have our Prejudices. Yes ; and 
we have our Principles. And prejudice, I think, should bow 
to principle. Let us, therefore, face our principles, or re- 
nounce them ; let us live up to our professions, or abandon 
them ; let us be Americans, or quit the country ! 

We have, we see, the most valid reasons for beginning 
with the South. Let us, then, begin there. And let us in- 
sist upon the most entire thoroughness. Let us not be in 
haste. No matter as to time ; no matter if it shall take as 
long to rear up the prostrate institutions of the South as it 
did the Chinese wall, if so there be thoroughness! Lfet us 
pursue the same course with the South, that the authorities 
here, as I learn, did with the bridge that was a long time in 
process of re-building. Many wondered at the slowness of 
the work ; but the secret, as I have it, was, that, the work 
being defective, the workmen were required, and several 
times, to tear up and build over again. So let it be with the 
South. The President has made them tear up some, and 
re-build; let him continue to do it, until they are thoroughly 
right. Let him insist, backed by the Congress, and the 



20 THE GLORY AND THE 

voice and sentiment of the nation, that every stone, and tim- 
ber, and part, and parcel, belonging to a Christian and Dem- 
ocratic structure, &]iall go into their work. Let this be done, 
and all, as to Framework, is right at tlial end of the Union. 
And then let the same work be done in connection with the 
whole National Building. All, in a sense, calls for Eecon- 
structiou. The whole nation, to an extent, should be re-cast. 
The work should be carried, in its just measure, into the so- 
cial, religious, educational, and industrial departments of the 
nation. There should, I think be a Utile Heconstruction 
touching churches, schools, street- cars, and perhajjs, some 
other things. We must be, throughout, a Christian and 
Democratic people ! Let us be, and we shall, in our Frame- 
work, be a Kighteous people ! 

A nation, too, to be Righteous, must have a Righteous Rule. 
If a machine must be right in itself, it must be used rightly. 
So if a nation, in its Framework, is to be Righteous, it is to 
be Righteously governed. It will not do to commit a 
Righteous thing to Unrighteous hands ; to commit a Right- 
eous Government to Unrighteous Rulers. This will not do. 
There must, then, be a Righteous Rule. But a Righteous 
Rule, supposes a Righteous Ruler. What, therefore, is a 
Righteous Ruler ? He is one, I answer, who reflects, in his 
own person and acts, the two great features of the organic 
Law of a Righteous people ; who, in other words, reflects 
the Theocratic and Democratic Elements. A Ruler, like 
the nation itself, stands in two relations : first, in relation to 
Grod, and secondly, in relation to the people. He is the 
minister of God, as well as the minister of the people ; and 
first the minister of God. And, as the minister of God, he 
is responsible to Him; as the minister of the people, he is 
responsible to them. On him, therefore, rests this two-fold 
responsibility. He is to see that God does not suffer, and 



SHAME OF A NATION. 21 

tliat Man does not suffer; he is set as a guarclian of the 
Rights of both. Hence it is said, he that rukth over men, 
must he Just; ruling in the fear of God. This is the great 
Law of Rule. He must be just ; just as a man, and just as 
a Ruler. And he must rule in the fear of God. Not simply 
in the fear of the people, but in the fear of God. Must be 
JUST. Surely men of profaneness, of looseness of life, men of 
corruption, men of the cup and of lust, men Avilhout the fear 
of God, and without, too, the lear of a Righteous people, are 
not such Rulers ! The great Apostle, in striking keeping 
■with this, says : For rulers are not a terror to good tcorJcs, 
hut to the evil. Wilt thozt, then, not he afraid of the power ? 
do that u-hich is good, and thou shalt have jJraise of the same: 
Fur he is the minister of Gi>d to thee for good. But if thou 
do that ichieh is evil, he afraid ; for he heareth not the sicord 
in vain : for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute 
wrath upon him that doeih evil. Here, then, you have the 
two-fold character, relation, and, by consequence, responsi- 
bility, of the Ruler. He is the minister of God, and the 
minister of men. You have, too, his work : to reward the 
good, and punish the evil. He is a praise to them that do 
well, and a TERROR to the doers of evil. He bears not the 
sword in vain— he has a sword, and he uses it ; nor does he 
possess his creat power of reward in vain. When men are 
good and loyal, they have his praise ; when they shed their 
blood for the country, he rewards them, if they have them 
not, with the full rights of citizenship, and, in addition, with 
honors. He is a j^raise to them that do well ! And he is 
more ; he is a terror to evil-doers. A terror, mark ; and how 
a terror ? By being a revenger, to execute wrath upon him 
that doeth evil. Pardoning, you see, is not the whole of his 
husiness! He executes wrath. Not upon little offenders, 
while the -reat are screened; not upon such as a Payne, and 



22 



THE GLORY AND THE 



a Wirz, while such as a Davis, and a Lee, go unpunished ! 
He is a terror to evil doers, and the greatest terror to the 
greatest evil-doers. And this makes the Righteous Ruler. 
This makes the Just Ruler. This, in fact, makes the Great 
Ruler. Agesilaus, the noble Spartan Ruler, on hearing his 
men praise the great king, asked : Eow is he greater than /, 
unless he he more Just? He was right. Justice makes the' 
Great Ruler. And all this, of course, applies to every kind 
of Ruler, to Law-Makers and Judges, as well as to Execu- 
tives. Thej are all bound by the same law. They are, in 
their several departments, to be Just men, ruling in the fear 
of God. Justice is to be their guide, and "justice the 
measure of their greatness ! 

^ Now, with this view, we naturally turn at this critical 
time to the President; turn with anxiety and with hope. 
We can not but feel that he has been called to his high posi- 
tion for such a time as this. He has certainly come to the 
Presidency the right xoay^ that is, has come from the masses. 
Like the pure and noble Lincoln, he \^ from the people, and 
of the people. And, knowing the people, he will care for 
them,- knowing, as we trust, the God of his Fathers, he will 
rule in His fear ; knowing the time he comes to the Presi- 
dency, he will prove himself equal to it; knowing the weak 
and helpless condition of the loyal and patriotic blacks, he 
will arm them with the ballot and every other American 
Right; knowing the hate and revenge of their late masters, 
he will make them powerless for harm ; and knowing, too', 
the leading enemies of the country, he is sure to punish 
them. This, at least, must be true touching Davis. That 
man I hold to be the guiltiest of this, or any other age. If 
we consider when, and where, he was born ; when, and where, 
reared; consider his culture and intelligence; consider the 
positions he has held in, and the favors received from, the 



SHAME OF A NATION. 23 

Government; consider the diameter of the Government; con- 
sider the Rebellion he instigated, and led ; consider its ter- 
rible destruction of life and of projterty ; consider the horrors 
and atrocities of Andersonviile, Salisbury, Belle Isle, and 
Libby Prison, for which, more than all others, he is respon- 
sible; consider the imprisonment and execution of loyal men 
in East Tennessee, and elsewhere, under his eye, and most 
likely, by his direction ; consider the demoralization of the 
country caused by the war ; consider the woe and lamenta- 
tion carried to the homes of the" American people by the loss 
of hundreds of thousands of loved ones; consider the scoun- 
drels in Canada, acting by his authority, and under his pay, 
invading our towns, robbing their banks, and killing their 
citizens, and, besides, spreading the yellow fever, by the 
importation of infected clothing; consider h\s connecdon, I 
will not say complicity, with the murder of the good and 
oreat-hearted Lincoln, and the attempted murder of the 
Secretary of State; — I say, if we consider these things, and 
others scarcely less atrocious and horrible, we shall, we must 
set that man down as the guiltiest of men ! And, as such, I 
would, if a Ruler, hang him! I would hang him on a Friday, 
if I knew the Millennium would dawn on Saturday ! I would 
do it the day before, resting assured that I should have the 
hearty applause of the Righteous millions of that glorious 
ao-e ! Let the disbelievers in capital punishment remonstrate, 
let the sympathizers with treason protest, let even the Ply- 
mouth pulpit dissuade, let the women of the South petition, 
let hloodi) England, and bloody Europe, bawl ; I, neverthe- 
less, would hang the Arch-Traitor ! And 1 can not think the 
President will do less. He, I am persuaded, is awake to 
the claims and responsibilities of the situation. Never did 
man, never did President, have a grander opportunity! 
Hence I would say to the President what Milton wrote to 



24 THE GLORY AND THE 

Cromwell, on Lis elevation to the Protectorship of England, 
and in the spirit, I trust, in which he wrote, with slight vari- 
ations adapting it to the different circumstances. "Consider 
frequently, consider in thy inmost thoughts, how dear a 
pledge, from how dear a parent intrusted (the gift Liberty, 
the giver thy Country) thou hast received into thy keeping. 
Revere the hope that is entertained of thee, the confident 
expectation of America ; call to mind the features and the 
wounds of all the brave men, who, under the command of 
thy martyred predecessor, have contended for the inestima- 
ble prize ; call to mind the ashes and the image of those who 
fell in the bloody strife ; respect the apprehension and the 
discourse that is held of us by foreign nations, how much it 
is they look for in the recollection of the Black Man's Lib- 
erty, so bravely achieved, of our redeemed Republic, which 
we may now so gloriously Reconstruct; which if it shall be 
in so short a time subverted, nothing can be imagined more 
shameful or dishonorable ; la^t of all, revere tliys^clf, so deeply 
bound, that that Liberty, in securing which thou hast en- 
countered such mighty hardships, and faced such fearful 
perils, shall, while in thy custody, neither be violated by 
thee, nor any way broken in upon by others. Recollect 
that tliou thyself canst not he free unless the hlaclcs are so; for 
it is fitly so provided in the nature of things, that he icJio con- 
quers another s Liberty, in the very act loses his oion ; he be- 
comes, and justly, the foremost slave. Thou hast taken on 
thyself a task which will probe thee to the very vitals, and 
disclose to the eyes of all how much is thy courage, thy 
firmness, and thy fortitude; whether that piety, perseverance, 
moderation and justice really exist in thee, in cunsideration 
of which we have believed that God hath given thee the su- 
preme dignity over thy fellows. To govern thirty-six mighty 
States by thy counsels ; to recall the people from their cor- 



SHAME OF A NATION. 25 

rupt institutions to a purer and nobler discipline; to extend 
thy thoughts and send out thy mind to our remotest shores; 
to foresee all, and provide for all; to shrink from no labor ; 
to trample under foot and tear to pieces all the snares of 
pleasure, and all the entangling seducements of wealth and 
power: these are matters so arduous, that, in comparison of 
them, the perils of war are but the sports of cliildren. These 
will winnow thy faculties, and search thee to the very soul; 
they require a man sustained by a strength that is more than 
human, and whose meditations and whose thoughts shall be 
in perpetual commerce with his Maker." 

Now let the President be of this character, and let the 
same spirit characterize the men in the several departments 
of the Grovernment, and this nation, in its Rule, is a Right- 
eous people ! 

But, finally, a nation to be Righteous, mnst have Righteous 
Siiljects. The People must be Righteous. A Righteous 
Framework, and Rule, are vital and fundamental ; so, and 
in a higher sense, are Righteous Citizens. To make the Cii- 
izcn Righteous, is the end of Righteous Laws and Magis- 
trates. They, in fact, borrow their value from this end. 
Hence let the Citizen be ?7«righteous, and all that is valuable 
in a Righteous Constitution, and a Righteous Rule, is wholly 
lost ; the end is not attained. Further, the true criterion of 
judgment, in respect to a nation, is the character of the Peo- 
ple. This is so touching an individual. We really judge 
an individual, not by his creed, or his professions, but by 
his life and walk. We go behind his creed, behind his the- 
ories and professions, to see what his character is. It is well 
to have a good creed — very well ; but better to have a good 
character. So a nation. In our decision here, we step be- 
hind Laws, and Administrators, to see what the People are. 
This, specially, is the place to look for Righteousness. Here, 



26 THE GLORY AND THE 

in reality, is where Grod looks for it. Moreover, Righteous 
Laws and Magistrates, and an Unrighteous People, increase 
the guilt of that Unrighteousness. Surely, with such Laws, 
and Rule, there is no excuse, no cloak, not the shadoio of 
either, for Unrighteousness ! Besides, an Unrighteous peo- 
ple will not long have Righteous Laws and Rulers. They 
will change them. They. will pull them down. The Jews 
did this. They had perfect institutions — so, at least, germ- 
inally ; they had God, and good men, to be their Rulers. 
And yet they lusted for the institutions of the heathen ; 
they desired a king, and other things to correspond. The 
truth is, that they virtually became heathen, and hence, and 
naturally, clamored for heathen institutions ! And God, as 
we have seen, granted them in his wrath. And so it is with 
a nation: it will lift up its character — lift it up by Right- 
eousness ; or it will change, or drag down, its Laws and its 
Rulers. This is the natural and certain result. But more 
than all this is true. To have, in this land. Righteous Laws 
and Rulers, there must, very largely, be a Righteous People. 
The People, with us, make the Laws and the Rulers. Hence, 
the latter, to a great extent, reflect the former. You see, in 
a high sense, the People in the Laws — the Citizen in the 
Ruler. Make, therefore, the People Righteous, and you 
really have Righteousness everywhere ! Righteousness, then, 
must exist in the People of this land. The People, in their 
characters and lives, must reflect the Divine Supremacy, and 
Human Equality; must, in other words, be Christian and 
Democratic. They must honor God, and honor Man. These 
are the great elements of a Righteous People. 

And here, my friends, there is WORK to be done. We 
talk of Reconstruction. Here, after all, it is most vitally 
needed. Our deepest need, say what we will, is a Recon- 
struction of Character and of Life. Here we are specially 



^ SHAME OP A NATION. 27 

wrong. Here we are specially Unrighteous. There is deep 
wrong in business, in social usages, in religion itself, in in- 
dividual habits, in the lives of men ; there is a stern call, 
touching all these, for Reconstruction. What a state of 
morals we see in the land I What a state, amid all that 
Heaven has done for us ! What profanity ! What drunk- 
enness ! What lewdness! What sabbath profanation! 
What robberies! What murders! What villanniea iu 
high and low life ! What luxury ! What neglect of God, 
and the Soul ! Surely the very flood-gates of Unrighteous- 
ness are open ! Our large cities fairly fester, and reek, and 
boil, and overflow with pollution. Licentiousness, like a 
spring-flood, is sweeping through all ranks and circles. In- 
temperance, too, is equally swelling, and rushing, and deso- 
lating. This, together with impurity, is hurrying untold 
numbers of the young, of the old even, to ruin. Crime, 
every one knows, is startlingly bold and defiant. Plainly, 
there is a demand, an imperative demand, for a broad and 
thorough Reconstruction. We should, as a people, should, 
in our elemental character. Reconstruct. This is Heaven's 
expectation. It is Heaven's demand ! Let us, then, be 
alarmed. Let us awake. Let us work. Let us pray. 
Let us warn. Let us push the work of moral and religious 
Reconstruction. Let us work at the very roots of the na- 
tion. Let us strike at the very foundations of the national 
disease. Let us, having, under Grod, put down our Enemies, 
now put down our Vices. Let us blot out every vestige of 
Slavery, and with it, and as a part of it, the shame and dis- 
grace of thePolygamy of Utah. I trust that that abomination 
will not live through the present Congress. Let us, too, cul- 
tivate the neighborly Law in respect to other nations. We 
should not be in haste to go to War. What we have just 
done, is, I am persuaded, enough to secure all our Rights ; 



28 THE GLORY AND THE 

enough, for at least, fifty years. Maximilian, I am satisfied, 
will take the hint ; if not, let us be slow to give him the hick. 

" Rightly to be great, 
Is not to stir without great argument." 

We should be neighborly toward all Nations. Let us, then, 
by correcting and lifting up the character of the People, 
make the nation, together with the other things we seek, a 
Nation of Righteousness. And thus shall we be a Nation 
of Exaltation and Glory ! Thus shall Salvation be nigh to 
us, and Glory dwell in the land ! Thus shall Mercy and 
Truth meet together, and Righteousness and Peace kiss each 
other. Thus shall Truth spring out of the earth, and 
Righteousness look down from heaven ! Thus shall the 
Lord give that which is good, and our land yield her in- 
crease ! Thus shall Righteousness go before Him, and set 
us in the way of His steps ! But let us refuse to do this, 
and, with all that is priceless in our Institutions, glorious in 
our History, and rich in the hopes of our Future, we shall 
become a Nation of Shame ! Righteousness Esalteth a 
Nation : but Sin is a Reproach to any People ! 

" What constitutes a State ? 
Not high raised battlements, or labored mounds, 

Thick wall or moated gate; 
Not cities proud, with spires and turrets crowned ; 

Not bays and broad-armed ports, 
Where, laughing at the storm, rich navies ride — 

Not starred and spangled courts, 
Where low-browed baseness wafts perfu?ne to pride. 

No ; Men, high-minded Men, 
With powers as far above dull brutes endued, 

In forest brake or den. 
As beasts excel cold brakes or brambles rude; 

Men who their Duties know 
Best know their Rights,, and. knowing, dare maintain 



SHAME OF A NATION. 29 

Prevent the long-aimed blow, 
And crush the Tyrant, while they rend the Chain. 

These constitute a State, 
And Sovereign Lata, that State's collected Will, 

O'er Thrones and Globes elate. 
Sits Empress — Crowning Good, repressing 111 ! " 

And now we bring, in this Chri,stian temple, an offering of 
Thanks and Praise to God in Christ. We thank Ilini, first 
of all, that the Nation lives ! We thank Ilim that it lives 
in its integrihj and entirety ! We thank Him, just as devout- 
ly, that Slavery does not live ! We thank Him that this 
Great Enemy of the Republic, choosing to take the sword, 
has perished by the sword ! We thank Him for the com 
plete and signal victory of our arms ! We thank Him that 
the old Flag, to-day, floats proudly over every foot of our 
vast domain ! We thank Him for giving us the best of 
Generals, and the bravest of Soldiers! We thank Him, 
while dropping the tear over the noble slain, that so many 
of our valiant boys have been spared to us! We thank Him 
that war, having gloriously accomplished its work, has 
ceased in the land ! We thank Him, that, all through our 
mighty struggle, He has averted foreign war! We thank 
Him for the prospects of a Righteous Reconstruction ! We 
thank Him, too, for the health and fruitfulness of the year I 
We thank Him for a Free Gospel, a Free Press, and Free 
Schools ! We thank Him for Churches, and Pastors, and 
Sabbath-Schools. We thank Him that we are Americans. 
We thank Him that it is ours to live, act, achieve, and suffer 
in this Advanced and Glorious Age ! For these, and other 
mercies, we offer devout Thanks, through the Redeemer, to 
the God of our Fathers ! And having thus, by the lip, ren- 
dered Thanks, we go out, we trust, to do so by Patriotic and 
Righteous Lives ! 




LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS ■) 



r 



013 744 506 2 



" That they must not only sweep the house clean below, BUT 
MUST PULL DOWN ALL THE COBWEBS W^HICH HAWG 
IN THE TOP AND CORNERS, THAT THEY MIGHT NOT 
BREED DUST, AND SO MAKE A FOUL HOUSE HERE- 
AFTER ; that they had now an OPPORTUNITY to make their 
Country HAPPY by removing ALL GRIEVANCES, AND 
PULLING UP THE CAUSES OP THEM BY THE ROOTS, 
IF ALL MEN W^OULD DO THEIR DUTIES." 

John Pym. 





